Hispanics now one-seventh of U.S. population

WASHINGTON — One of every seven people in the United States is Hispanic, a record number that probably will keep rising because of immigration and a birthrate outstripping non-Hispanic blacks and whites.

The country's largest minority group accounted for one-half of the overall population growth of 2.9 million between July 2003 and July 2004, according to a Census Bureau report being released today.

The agency estimated there are 41.3 million Hispanics in the United States. The bureau does not ask people about their legal status; that number is intended to include both legal and other residents.

Utah, too, is seeing increasing growth in its Hispanic population, said Pam Perlich senior research economist at the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

Hispanics contributed 23 percent of Utah's population growth during the 1990s, Perlich said. That grew to a census-estimated 27 percent from 2000 to 2003, and "that number is getting larger," she said, noting that state officials actually believe the census has undercounted Utah's population in estimates.

According to the census, Hispanics in 2003 still made up a smaller share of Utah's population than the nation, Perlich said.

The population growth for Asians ran a close second nationally to Hispanics, according to the Census Bureau report. Increases in both groups are due largely to immigration but also higher birthrates, said Lewis W. Goodman, an American University expert on U.S.-Latin American relations.

"If we didn't have those elements, we would be moving into a situation like Japan and Europe . . . , where the populations are graying in a way that is very alarming and endangering their productivity and endangering even their social security systems," he said.

Most immigrants to the United States tend to arrive in their 20s, when many people have children. A far greater percentage of whites than Hispanics is 65 or older; the opposite is true of those under 18.

Perlich said that in Utah — the state with the nation's highest birthrate — Hispanics also tend to be younger than the overall population.

"Many (Hispanics) are foreign born. What we know is that migrants tend to be younger," she said. "What we also know is that Hispanic women in Utah have a higher fertility rate than white, non-Hispanics."

Immigration has become a volatile issue in Congress and border states, as well as in Georgia and other places where there has been a surge in new arrivals. Critics say lax enforcement of immigration laws has allowed millions of people to enter the U.S. illegally, take jobs from legal residents and drain social services.